


>12%

by creivel



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Near Death Experience, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-26
Updated: 2012-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-19 14:30:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/574271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creivel/pseuds/creivel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wished he had enough time to tell her. Nuclear strikes aren't known for their willingness to be put off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	>12%

Maybe it was better that Pepper didn’t answer her phone.

Tony knew he had, what, _maybe_ another twenty seconds before he crossed the portal and into god-knows-where with the ever-wonderful presence of the missile sitting snugly close to him. A constant and very final reminder of his decision. Of his stupid, self-sacrificial, _stupid_ decision.

What could he possibly say to her? “So hey, I’m about to die in a horrific, nuclear explosion in the middle of another dimension, I just wanted to tell you that I—”

_That I **what?**_

The lights of his suit flickered as the alien energy rolled over him in massive waves. Tony could see stars through the swirling void, scattered dots that expanded further into his vision as he grew closer. Somehow the moment just wasn’t as _nice_ since he was sharing it with a nuke.

Not that he would want to share it with anyone. This was for him, and him only.

She was probably watching them all on TV, wherever she was. Maybe she was even watching him ascend toward the tear in the sky with his little catastrophic friend in tow. It wouldn’t be much longer, though, until he finally reached it… and she wouldn’t have to see what became of him on the other side.

Tony couldn’t imagine a better death, besides maybe a heart attack whilst covered in naked and swooning women. One last drink, a cigarette, at least. He was barely breathing as he was and the taste of bile was heavy in his mouth. Well, at least from the outside, he looked like a badass.

_Like a hero._

No, he didn’t want to be swarmed by women. As much as he wanted to laugh and say there would be nothing greater than all those breasts dangled in his face, there was no time for any of his standard quips where he was at. This was it. He had about ten seconds, or less… his suit was giving out, draining its last bit of power as his oxygen supplies were sucked into the emptiness of space. There was only one woman he wanted to see. If he could’ve had just a _little while longer—_

His hold on the missile broke as it shot ahead of him

_Just to tell her—_

He gasped, but nothing was there to breathe

_Just to say—_

His eyes were wide, vision swimming, as the display inside of his helmet faded into blackness

 _She already knows. She_ has _to know._

Pepper was a smart girl. Tony figured she already knew what he wanted to say, what he felt, every time he prodded at her and she jabbed him even harder. When she walked around his tower barefoot because she was just as welcome as he was. When he tasted champagne on her lips and called his beloved Stark tower her “baby.”

_More than 12%… so much more._

Even if she already knew, Tony would have liked to have had enough time left to tell Pepper that he loved her.

His body fell uselessly limp inside of his now defunct suit, floating pathetically amongst the stars as the nuke reached its target and immediately lit up.

As the explosion unfurled in front of him, Tony Stark exhaled what little breath he had left and closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick one-shot written directly after my first viewing of The Avengers in theaters.


End file.
